A busy week with eRetail in India

A busy week with eRetail in India

There’s a lot that happened in the India eRetail (refers to eCommerce in Retail ) and I was trying to keep pace with it. I first attend the Indian eRetail Congress 2012 – a two day seminar organized by Franchise India; and then the Delhi Retail Summit 2012 organized by Retail Association of India. Interestingly both these events where organized for the first time by the respective organizers and both focused on educating retailers about eCommerce trends in the Indian Retail industry.

During these conferences I had the opportunity to listen and talk to a few some young and enthusiastic entrepreneurs who’ve created an identity for themselves in the Indian eCommerce landscape. At the same time I also had the opportunity to talk to several Indian retailers who have either started or are looking to start their eCommerce journey as well as several entrepreneurs who too aspire to make it big in India eCommerce arena. The two conferences reinforced my belief that while eCommerce has been around in India for sometime now, it is only very recently that eCommerce has gained significant momentum. It is not just that there is a lot of buzz in market, the industry has seen several positive changes that are helping eRetail move faster and in the right direction (read my blog – It is boom time for eCommerce in India ), supported by a large economy that is growing at a steady pace.

That said, not all is as glamorous as it looks. One needs to be careful while taking a step forward – distinguish between The Facts, The Myths and The Hype to take a rational decision. In the Indian subcontinent eRetail is still maturing which mean that there are several challenges associated with it that needs to be addressed and resolved. But most importantly the retailers need to understand that is it not just about putting up a website with a shopping cart. eCommerce is a lot more than that and most importantly it is about getting your eCommerce Model Right.

The Indian retailers, while they understand the importance of complementing their brick and mortar stores with the online storefronts, they are also aware of the challenges they may face once they go down this route. While trying to make sense and trying to define a roadmap for themselves , I saw most of the right questions popping up during these seminars “Is eCommerce right for me?”, “How do I get started with eCommerce?”; “How much investment do I need to invest to get started with eCommerce?”, and several more.

Over the next few blogs, I will try and answer some of these questions .. So stay tuned. Meantime if you have any specific question please feel free to reach out to me on email or my mobile